Well, this is way OT
And along the lines of the rambling that I do here on occasion. As some of you know I am married to a local Chinese Malaysian. For both of us it is our second marriage. I have had the bonus of acquiring a son in the course of the marvelous events that have led me here. He is one of the more marvelous. At ten years old he differs in many ways from the American youngsters that I have known (and raised). I could probably write a treatise on cultural differences but that isn't the point of this little excursion into my journal. I am simply going to write about a little vignette that happened tonight.
Dinner had been over for about an hour. I had been in my study with a cigar and the afternoon's worth of emails. It is usually about this time that my 10 year old Nicholas starts finding ways to interrupt me. It is usually because he is eager to start the movie we plan to watch (if it is a week-end night) or it is because he has stumbled up against a tough homework problem, or he has any one of the thousands of questions that he reserves for his strange, funny talking, step dad. But tonight was different. After taking out the trash he retreated to his bedroom and was silent. It was this silence that jarred me from my preoccupation with the computer. Nicholas knew we were going to watch an action movie tonight which is his favorite. Why wasn't he bugging me to start? Why so quiet?
I stepped out to the stair well and hollered up "NICK!" The rest went something like this:
Nick:"Yea?"
Me:"What are you doing?"
Nick:"An experiment"
Me: "Come here" (with enough of a sense of urgency that he came running down the stairs quickly)
Me: "What kind of experiment?"
Nick: "I found a bug"
Me: "Yes?"
Nick: "Yes"
Me: "Well what are you doing with the bug"
Nick "I want to see his eye. With the microscope."
Me: "Why"
Nick: "To see if it is a bunch of eyes, or just one like regular"
Me: "Oh, I see, ok"
He dashed out of my sight as soon as he detected approval in my voice, running up the stairs, the movie forgotten, all else forgotten for the moment. A boy on a quest. "Let me know what you find" my voice chased after him. "OK" I could barely discern as the door on his room clipped his reply in half.
I think I can almost remember that kind of burning curiosity, and that kind of barely concealed impatience at being interrupted by an authority, not to mention trepidation if I wasn't 100% sure that what I was doing was all right.
I guess boys are boys. Whatever side of the ocean they are on. As I write this 20 minutes later I am still kind of enjoying the whole encounter.
Best,
Stitch |
